course it does; but--I have been--you have
been--Oh, let's walk, please, or I shall fall off!"

Georgie ranged alongside, and laid a hand that shook below her
bridle-hand, pulling Dandy into a walk. Miriam was sobbing as he had
seen a man sob under the touch of the bullet.

"It's all right--it's all right," he whispered feebly. "Only--only it's
true, you know."

"True! Am I mad?"

"Not unless I'm mad as well. Do try to think a minute quietly. How could
any one conceivably know anything about the Thirty-Mile Ride having
anything to do with you, unless he had been there?"

"But where? But where? Tell me!"

"There--wherever it may be--in our country, I suppose. Do you remember
the first time you rode it--the Thirty-Mile Ride, I mean? You must."

"It was all dreams--all dreams!"

"Yes, but tell, please; because I know."

"Let me think. I--we were on no account to make any noise--on no account
to make any noise." She was staring between Dandy's ears, with eyes that
did not see, and a suffocating heart.

"Because 'It' was dying in the big house?" Georgie went on, reining in
again.

"There was a garden with green-and-gilt railings--all hot. Do you
remember?"

"I ought to. I was sitting on the other side of the bed before 'It'
coughed and 'They' came in."

"You!"--the deep voice was unnaturally full and strong, and the girl's
wide-opened eyes burned in the dusk as she stared him through and
through. "Then you're the Boy--my Brushwood Boy, and I've known you all
my life!"

She fell forward on Dandy's neck. Georgie forced himself out of the
weakness that was overmastering his limbs, and slid an arm round her
waist. The head dropped on his shoulder, and he found himself with
parched lips saying things that up till then he believed existed only in
printed works of fiction. Mercifully the horses were quiet. She made
no attempt to draw herself away when she recovered, but lay still,
whispering, "Of course you're the Boy, and I didn't know--I didn't
know."

"I knew last night; and when I saw you at breakfast--"

"Oh, that was why! I wondered at the time. You would, of course."

"I couldn't speak before this. Keep your head where it is, dear. It's
all right now--all right now, isn't it?"

"But how was it I didn't know--after all these years and years? I
remember--oh, what lots of things I remember!"

"Tell me some. I'll look after the horses."

"I remember waiting for you when the steamer came in. Do you?"